On Composing Place: An Analysis of “Clusters on a quadrilateral grid” by John Luther Adams

DeLuca, Erik

doi:10.7757/persnewmusi.52.3.0005

Cited by 1 publication

(2 citation statements)

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“…Not surprisingly, this nature/culture confusion lies at the foundation of Adams’s sonic art through the presentation of musical materials as a counterpart to the notion that they are ‘deeply rooted’ in something referred to as the ‘the natural world’ (Adams 2016). This is illuminated in ‘On Composing Place’ (DeLuca 2014), my analysis of Adams’s keyboard percussion quartet, Clusters on a Quadrilateral Grid from Strange and Sacred Noise . This analysis unpacks the compositional devices Adams employs to embody ‘calving glaciers, raging rivers, wildfires[,] extreme weather[, and] noise in the primal forces of nature’ (Adams 2009: 102).…”

Section: Critiquementioning

confidence: 99%

“…When looking at the empty quadrilateral grid (Figure 2) we see that one of the 27 square units holds one pitch in one measure. From this empty quadrilateral grid Adams moulds the carpet iterations by placing clusters on its surface (DeLuca 2014). Adams’s fractal translations rendered a contraction and expansion of registral space, rhythmic diminution, dynamics, rests and tempo.…”

Section: Critiquementioning

confidence: 99%

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Selling Nature to Save It: Approaching self-critical environmental sonic art

DeLuca¹

2018

Org. Sound

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With similarities to the emergence in fifteenth-century landscape paintings, to poems by the Transcendentalists and to the more recent 1960s land art movement, environmental sonic art is always context-based and conjointly performs as environmental activism with aims to break down the nature/culture dualism. Nature, however, is both a material object and a socially constructed metaphor that is infinitely interpretable and ideologically malleable based on one’s values and biases. Does the environmental sonic artist acknowledge this? The theoretical framework of this article extends acoustic ecology, first theorised by R. Murray Schafer, to include environmental history and cultural theory – ultimately problematising definitions of ‘nature’ and ‘natural.’ Through this framework, the author critiques the way composer John Luther Adams represents his environmental sonic art. This analysis will illuminate a dialogue that asks, ‘What is self-critical environmental sonic art?’

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Section: Critiquementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Critiquementioning

confidence: 99%